Salem

Several of my wonderful readers have sent in similar questions about me and the time I spend in Diablo 2, so I thought I would take an article to answer some of the most common ones.

[B]Question: Who do you get your inside information from?[/B] Answer: What inside information? Anything I talk about that relates to Blizzard is either coming from something they published or out of my own head. In other words, I have no idea what Blizzard North is up to. That article was merely speculation derived from the job listings on Blizzard?s web site. Interestingly, after the article on Blizzard North came out, I received an e-mail from one of my readers indicating that Diablo 3 has been in development for over a year. I would not get too excited by that comment, as there is no way to check the accuracy, but I pass it along anyway.

[B]Question: Will 1.10 have feature X?[/B] Answer: I have no idea. I would love to work for QA at Blizzard, quietly sneaking secrets out of the studio to pass on to my readers. In reality, I am stuck a couple time zones away poking through job listings. Now, just as soon as I get that magic phone call from Mr. Roper things may change, but in the meantime I am afraid my amazing intuitive powers will have to do.

[B]Question: Who are you on realms?[/B] Answer: I was the sorceress who got hit by lag so bad she died to one of those of porcupine things before it ever appeared on the screen. That was well over a year ago, and I have not been back on realms since. I have access to a faster internet connection now, but I am waiting for 1.10 to arrive and (hopefully) fix the economy. Later this summer I may try out a ladder character or two, but for now I am strictly single player.

[B]Question: What is your favorite character?[/B] Answer: Her name is Myst. She is a sorceress that was started just after 1.09 was released. She kills mostly with meteor and thunderstorm. For hell, she added a decent blizzard to her arsenal as well. Before that, her only real cold skill was ice blast. She uses ice blast to freeze/slow the front line of advancing monsters, and to set up her meteor. Her equipment is mostly rune words and rares, and she uses a nicely equipped barbarian as her mercenary. Unhacked, she killed Baal in hell at level 71, solo. Among those who I party with in LAN games, she is still a well respected figure.

I will give honorable mention to another fun build, a barbarian known as Crunch. The concept is simple. He is a barbarian with pumped maul mastery, lots of points in bash, and not much else. In order to deal with physical immunes, I am adding some points to berserk, but his primary attack is bash. Surprisingly to some, he is very fun to play. Perhaps the name, which lends itself to images of a trail of squished fetishes, has something to do with it. I have long thought that the best improvement Blizzard could make to the barbarian is to add a nice tomato-hitting-wall sound to bash. Somehow, I doubt that idea will make the patch.

[B]Question: Do you ever plan to write an article on X?[/B] Answer: I might. I am always open to suggestions for future articles. If I think I can develop into a quality commentary, I may use it. However, if any of you have ideas for articles, I encourage you to write the article yourself and submit it as a guest article. Some excellent articles have been published this way, and I always look forward to the new batch each week. If you have ideas, by all means, send them in, but consider trying your own hand first. You might wake up one day to find your own article online.

[B]Question: Do you write anything else?[/B] Answer: Nothing that is published anywhere. Perhaps that will one day change, but for now, this is the only place I can be found.

[B]Question: Are you going to start posting feedback to your articles the like the other columnists?[/B] Answer: I am still undecided on this one. Yes, I have been writing here for more than six months now, and I still have not made up my mind. I will continue to watch both the weekly feedback and the forum threads that the guest columns are linked to. I like points about both, and when I have made up my mind which, if either, to go with, I think it will happen. In the meantime, feel free to e-mail me. I will respond to as many as I can.

Finally, I humbly point out that my streak is intact. Last time I made reference to the fact that the release date for 1.10 gets pushed back every time I comment on it. To prove that my powers are real, just a few days ago the release date was bumped into early or mid June. Now, if Blizzard does not count this as a comment on 1.10, and I can restrain myself the next time I write, then maybe we can all spend the Fourth of July working out that world event. In the meantime, enjoy your Memorial Day, and when playing your favorite virtual warriors, give a thought to the real ones, past and present, who are stationed around the world. The real threats they face make even Diablo?s Red Lightening Breath of Death and Doom seem weak and lame. They are the ultimate 133t clan. Go them.

[B]Disclaimer:[/B] Salem’s Fire was written by Luke Blaize and hosted by diabloii.net. The opinions expressed in these columns are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Diii.net.